Pokekea Megalithic Site, Historical Heritage in Behoa Valley

Helloindonesia.id – The Pokekea Megalithic Site is located in Behoa Valley, Hangira Village, Central Lore District, Poso Regency, Central Sulawesi. Located on a hill, this site has a wide and varied distribution of megalithic remains. All these megalithic remains are concentrated almost evenly above and inside the Pokekea hill land.
Kalamba

One of the historical objects on this site is Kalamba which is estimated to have existed since 2,500 BC. In Lore language, kalamba means spirit boat. The form of kalamba resembles a drum or barrel. The material is made of stone. In modern life, kalamba is identical to a jar or a place to store water.

Kalamba’s height is 190 cm with a diameter of 160 cm and a depth of 90 cm. Near Kalamba’s mouth there were carvings of faces that looked down, like people giving greetings.

Kalamba is the highest accompanied by another shorter cage. Kalamba is concentrated on the east side, about 75 meters from the entrance. In this place, various sizes of kalamba lie, ranging in height from 50 cm to 150 cm.

In general there are two types of kalamba based on the type of carving of a human face, on kalamba there are also lines arising around.

First, kalamba has motifs that are mostly tall and have carved human faces in the form of a pair of eyes, eyebrows, and nose. In addition to carving a human face, there is also a line around Kalamba.

Another short-sized Kalamba has no motive. The kind of wall of Kalamba was not decorated with any carvings.

It is estimated that Kalamba has two types of uses. First, as a second tomb or as a place for storing bones. This is based on the discovery of more than one individual skull and tooth in the past on this site. Kalamba which is used as the second grave is a patterned one.

Another possibility, based on the legend that developed in the Lore community, was used as a bathing water storage for noble daughters. For this purpose kalamba plain is used.
Pokegalic Megalithic Site

On the Megalithic Site of Pokekea there are 27 kalamba from a total of 113 ancient objects in that place. The rest is in the form of carved human statues and stone slabs.

The Pokekea Megalithic Site is one of the 50 locations for the discovery of megalithic relics in the Behoa Valley, Napu Valley, and Bada Valley, Poso Regency.

In total there are 300 megalithic objects in around 40 sites spread in Central Lore District. These sites are in the villages of Katu, Rompo, Torire, Bariri, Doda, Hangira, and Lempe.

Based on the research results of the archaeological agency Manado, North Sulawesi, these objects have been around since 2,500 BC. The remains are mostly in the form of kalamba and statues carved by human faces.

Megalithic is a round in human history that stretched from 2,500 BC to the first century AD. The term megalithic comes from Greek which means stone (large lithos) (mega). In those days, humans produced objects made of stone, both as planting equipment, and for ritual activities, such as burial and worship.

As reported by the Ministry of Education and Culture, Von Heine Geldern (1945) argues that the megalithic tradition in Indonesia is divided into two periods, namely the old megalithic (2,500-1,500 BC) and young megalithic (1,500 BC to the 1st century AD). Although the megalithic tradition is divided into two periods, the two periods take place together in the young megalithic period. Based on this opinion, it can be concluded that the megalithic remains of the Pokekea Site are included in both periods.

Besides kalamba, the Pokekea site which is located on a hill has a wide and varied distribution of megalithic remains, such as, close to kalamba, stone statues, dakon stones, stone mortar, altar tables, stone dulang, stone scratches and grave pottery. All these megalithic remains are concentrated almost evenly above and inside the Pokekea hill soil.

In Indonesia, besides Poso, megalithic remains can be found in Sumatra, Java, and in East Nusa Tenggara.

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